June 14 Bolshoi Drama Theater. G.A. Tovstonogova played the first performance in the Minecraft environment. To stage Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" needed an Intel Xeon E5 1650 v3 processor and two 480 GB SSDs. On the vanilla server of the popular game, not only the adapted plot and the play of actors moving their characters unfolded. In virtual reality, they built both the stage and the entire theater. We talk about the technical "behind the scenes", rehearsals before performances and how the most famous "sandbox" helps to shake off the "dust" from volumes of Russian classics.
First there was theater
During the pandemic, some theaters went online. Near the Bolshoi Drama Theater. G.A. Tovstonogov, the site "BDT Digital" appeared . Here you can listen to new radio plays created specifically for online broadcasting, participate in online meetings with actors, and find out what actors are fond of in their free time.
During self-isolation, Minecraft is experiencing a new wave of popularity. Forcibly imprisoned in apartments, gamers build their familiar world - only from virtual blocks. Students, cut off from lectures, build the buildings of their universities in order to at least take a walk in their usual classrooms. Schoolchildren deprived of their graduations spend them in the game. Others build entire polling stations and collecta working computer in the game.
Russian gamers did not pass by the historic BDT building, designed by Ludwig Frantsevich Fontana in the 19th century. In the construction they were helped by the artist of performances in Minecraft Andrey Voronov: he oversaw the process, provided the necessary data on the parameters, and made edits. It didn't work right away - the first version of the structure was too large. But with a little more pickaxe, the players completed a realistic replica of the theater with the interior decoration and main stage. Where there is a stage, there is a performance, they thought in the BDT.
Minecraft advantages and limitations
Loyal fans of the game will say that in the "sandbox" you can do almost everything, except, perhaps, perfectly round objects. The possibilities are limited only by the user's imagination and his knowledge of the gaming platform. When using the appropriate modifications, Minecraft supports audio and video content, presentations and live broadcasts can be held here. Modern computer capacities allow it.
For its digital theater, BDT chose an Intel Xeon E5 1650 v3 processor, two SSDs, 480 GB each. The RAM was 64 GB, and the channel bandwidth was 1 Gbit / s. The operating system is Ubuntu 18.04. The theater rented the necessary infrastructure from Selectel. For the debut performance, the BDT technical specialists set an entry limit - no more than 100 people. But the last one took place without any restrictions.
Minecraft has its own rules and a recognizable visual style. The secret of its popularity lies in the simplicity of the gameplay. What could be clearer than a cube equal on all sides. Although it is from this simplicity that a large-scale movement of players has grown, who build whole works of architectural art there. Contrary to understandable limitations. The director of performances in Minecraft Edgar Zakaryan also worked with them, who, on the contrary, tried to transform them into means of theatrical expression.
The acting
Square people in Minecraft do not express emotions and are limited in the set of movements. They can walk, bow, raise a hand, jump, build and destroy. Especially not clear up. As Edgar Zakaryan admitted, the most expressive actions of the characters were head nodding and hand waving. And the director looked for places in the texts of the plays that could be expressed by them.
“A good pace is very important. This game needs dynamics, more movement. Over time, it became clear that dialogues are best obtained when a character can walk up to another hero, bend over to him, whisper in his ear, for example. The artists voice it in the correct intonation, and the viewer understands everything. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way with monologues. For them, you need to use 3D-helmets and VR-glasses in order to be able to use the facial expressions of the actors, “body dance”, ”says Edgar.Since it was impossible to convey the facial expressions of the actors, the "voice acting" and interaction with the scenery played an important role. Instead of real tears, the heroine builds a stream, and shows the highest degree of despair through breaking glass in the house. The latter, however, are restored with one click.
The peculiarities of the venue presented their own surprises to the authors of the performance. So, during the "Cherry Orchard", some users jokingly burst onto the stage (such hooligans in the game are called griefers) and flew around the hall. There was an unexpected destruction of the theatrical "fourth wall".
“Viewers came to our server, whose knowledge and capabilities in Minecraft exceeded the knowledge and capabilities of our administrators. But I even liked it: it immediately became clear that this was not a recording, but a real “living” product, everything happens here and now, ”says the architect of the performance, Andrey Voronov.
Scenery
On the one hand, the game's functionality imposes restrictions on creating a voluminous performance in all senses. On the other hand, it has never been so easy to create and destroy scenery.
In a production based on Chekhov's play, they set the overall dynamics. The cherry orchard erected in the game within 15 minutes of the performance turned into an area with summer cottages in front of the audience. It is difficult to imagine the implementation of this idea in non-virtual life.
In Mozart and Salieri, which premiered on 28 June, the scenery accompanied the actors' lines. Compared to the first performance, the scenography was more minimalistic: the black vacuum of the stage was diluted only by an impromptu "ring" made in the form of a harpsichord cover and an installation made of candles. But the scene was lit up with light and music during the performances of Lil Mozart (as the authors of the performance named the composer), and the keys of the harpsichord moved, imitating the playing of the instrument.
The second performance turned out to be more technically difficult. The production used mods developed for the educational product "Shkolakola" and plugins that the company made directly for the BDT performance.
Rehearsals
All actors actually play their own characters. That is, they have to perform actions and read out their lines at the same time. As noted in the theater, in the process, the option was discussed when one person makes all the necessary movements of the character, and the actor only voices them. However, in the end, the creators chose a more complex, but honest option.
Preparation for the first performance took about three weeks with daily rehearsals for several hours. According to the director, at first it was unusual for everyone, a little strange, the actors did not know how to play them. After all, they only have a voice and a computer mouse in their hands.
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The iconic Cherry Orchard directed by Eimuntas Nyakrosius, awarded the Golden Mask in 2004, lasted 4 hours and 50 minutes. Performance based on Chekhov in Minecraft - 15 minutes. The creators felt that it would be difficult to keep players' attention longer.
Therefore, the performance in Minecraft is in many ways a transposition of the classics, a short retelling of a literary work from a book for preparing the exam. This format is understandable for the main audience that the theater addresses - schoolchildren and teenagers. Those who are familiar with Minecraft and a little worse - with Anton Pavlovich. The play is an attempt to awaken their interest in the original source.
“Of course, we did not only make the performance for schoolchildren. We understood that the audience would be very different, including theatrical. Both in The Cherry Orchard and in Mozart and Salieri we use the language of teenagers. This slang is needed, because if I made the speech “thinner” in relation to teenagers, then older viewers might not understand at all what it is about, ”says Edgar.
The most difficult thing, according to the director, is to figure out how Chekhov's text will sound in the “mouths” of running small squares. But he coped with "The Cherry Orchard" quickly: the script, actions, remarks were written in just 8 hours.
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The play based on Pushkin's "little tragedy" was shown twice a night to give more people the opportunity to visit the theater. However, everyone can watch the online broadcast and its recording - on the BDT Vkontakte page , on YouTube and on Twitch .
BDTdigital does not plan to stop at two performances. Despite the traditional criticism of the modern reading of the classics, the performances received their audience. The broadcasts are watched and actively commented on. So far, BDT has not revealed the name and date of the next performance, but the director promises explosions, special effects and the integration of the audience into the stage action.
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